Man Of Her Dreams
by LittleLizzieZentara
Summary: For the last 21 days-since she dumped Josh-Kate has been struggling with nightly dreams of Castle.  She isn't sure how much more she can take without showing Castle how he REALLY affects her.  Season 3, slight A/U  Finale never happened.
1. Chapter 1

**In honor of tonight's season premiere, I'm posting another new story. I'm also hoping to finish the second (and as far as I know at the moment, last) chapter of Queen of Denial and have it posted before the finale starts. I have the rest of The Beckett Clones planned out, so I'm hoping to have chapters of that one up much faster than I have lately. My muse just insisted that I get this story out (there will be 3 chapters and I have the first two written and the third completely planned out; I may even post the 2nd chapter tonight, too) and finish Queen of Denial before getting back to the adventures of Princess Iya and Becket.**

**Less than an hour away before I can start reading spoilers on the Facebook fanpage. I'm so excited! And less than four hours before I can watch it. (Yep, I'm one of those strange ones that likes to know what happens BEFORE I watch)**

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><p>Stretched out on a large red beach towel the same color as the bikini she wore, Kate Beckett couldn't remember the last time she'd been so relaxed. She listened to the gentle sound of the ocean waves as they rolled towards the sandy shore, the rhythm matching her soft breathing. A faint concern about her back getting sunburned if she stayed out in the sun too long rose to mind, but she didn't want to move.<p>

The light touch of familiar male hands made Kate tense with surprise.

"Castle, what do you think you're doing?"

The unrepentant laugh that was the writer's only response sent a shiver down her spine. Was it her imagination, or was the sound more intimate than usual?

"You don't want to mar this beautiful skin with a sunburn, do you?" Castle asked. Although she couldn't see him, lying on her stomach with her eyes closed as she was, Kate knew there was a smirk on his lips as he said the words.

Kate tried to answer, but her voice just wouldn't cooperate as Castle slowly and lightly ran his fingers over Kate's shoulders. Now that he had mentioned it, she could feel the oily liquid of the sunscreen as it was transferred from his fingers to her skin.

She shouldn't be letting him do this, though. It might give him the wrong idea. She didn't want him to think she was encouraging him to-

Kate's breath hitched as Castle ran a finger down her spine, stopping right at the small of her back. His chuckle told Kate that the observant man hadn't missed Kate's unintended reaction.

"Castle," Kate ground out the name in warning.

"I told you I would be happy to rub lotion on you," Castle reminded her, his voice a tad husky. "And right now, I am very, _very_ happy."

As Castle continued to apply the sunscreen to the rest of her back, Kate wracked her brain, trying to figure out _why _she wasn't putting up more of a fight. She shouldn't be letting him do this. What if he didn't stop with just using his hands? What if-?

The thought didn't even fully form in Kate's mind before Castle pressed a soft kiss to the base of her spine.

How was he _doing_ that? It was like he knew what she was thinking even before she did!

Castle continued to brush his lips up her spine in soft kisses, leaving light tingles in their wake.

"C-C-Castle," Kate tried to make her tone stern, but she couldn't keep her voice from shaking.

"What Kate?" Castle murmured against the back of her neck. "What is it you want?"

Why did he have to phrase it like that? What she wanted and what she should have were two completely different things.

Kate knew she needed to move. Now.

She quickly changed positions so that she was laying on her back, looking up into Castle's blue eyes. His mesmerizing blue eyes that grabbed hold of hers and wouldn't let go.

Well, crap.

That certainly hadn't been one of her brightest ideas.

Especially considering that his lips were now not even an inch away from her own.

"So, what do you want, Kate?"

"I want you-"

Castle's lips on hers cut off anything else she was going to say. She had been all set to tell him that she wanted him to stop, but any thought of that vanished as his lips moved gently over hers.

For a brief moment, that was enough. But soon she wanted more. Somehow Castle seemed to know. Bracing his weight on his arms that were on either side of her head, he leaned into her and moved his lips more firmly against hers. Slowly the kiss grew deeper and deeper until Kate couldn't take any more. With a groan she let herself go, let herself kiss Castle the way she'd always wanted to...

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><p>Kate jolted upright in bed, gasping for breath. A dream, just another dream. Every night she'd been plagued with them, ever since she'd ended things with Josh. Almost three weeks ago now. For twenty nights she'd been dreaming about Castle. And not just chummy hanging out with a best friend type dreams, either. Nope, in each of those dreams they had kissed at least once. What was odd, though, was that she always woke up before things went beyond kissing.<p>

That always disappointed her when she woke up, but whenever she saw Castle after one of those dreams, she was grateful. It was bad enough having memories of the man kissing her senseless haunting her when she was in his presence. It would have been a whole lot worse if more intimate images were in her head.

The beeping of her alarm clock made Kate groan and throw her blankets over her head. It had been twenty days since she'd gotten a good night's sleep. Not that her sleep wasn't often sporadic while she was working, but she always had her days off to get a few extra hours in. Even in the darkest days after her mother was murdered there were times that Kate finally ran out of steam and would fall into bed exhausted. She wasn't sure if she'd ever had so little sleep for this long of a stretch before. And that certainly wasn't helping her keep up her resistance to Castle.

How much longer was this going to go on?

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><p><strong>So what do you guys think of this one? Please R&amp;R. If anyone asks me to, I'll go ahead and post the 2nd chapter tonight, too. :) <strong>

**Oh brother, now I'm resorting to bribery! LOL I think this Castle Monday has gotten me in a very strange mood!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Okay, here is chapter two. I had such fun writing this. A lot of you will recognize a big portion of this chapter. I took it from a scene Kate had with Demming (Bleh!) I thought it would be much more fun to have her share that scene with Castle, instead.**

**Disclaimer: Oops, I forgot that in the first chapter. My mind is just too full of tonight's episode to think of anything else-even Castle related, apparently. And I almost stopped there. (Shaking head at self) Anyway, I do NOT own Castle. Sad but true. But hey, that means I can write fan fic and put them in a whole bunch of situatoins that would never enter Andrew Marlowe's head. I think I'm just too excited to see things as anything other than glass half-full right now.**

Things just weren't adding up. If Castle was so determined to get his way, why did he just agree to a challenge that there was no way he could win?

These were the thoughts running through Kate's mind as she stood on the sparring mat, Castle no more than ten feet away from her. Both of them were in standard sparring clothes and Kate was refusing to let herself notice the way the tank top Castle was wearing showed off his strong arms.

Castle had started in right after he'd handed over her regular morning coffee, demanding to know why she had been acting so strangely the last few weeks. As much as she had tried, Kate had known it was only a matter of time before the writer figured out that she'd been trying to put as much physical distance between them as possible without being obvious about it. She had tried to deny it, but Castle hadn't bought it. So she had come up with the idea of a bet, one she knew she couldn't lose, to make him drop the subject. As much as the man played poker and made bets with Ryan and Esposito, Kate knew it was the perfect ploy. She'd gotten him to agree that if he lost-really it was when, but he didn't need to know that-he would never bring up the subject again.

Castle hadn't even seemed surprised when Kate had suggested sparring.

"Ready?" she asked him. When Kate was sparring, she normally didn't ask such a thing. The element of surprise was crucial in those first few seconds. But this was Castle, and she wanted to at least give him the chance to stay on his feet for at least a moment or two before she took him down. At his nod, she got into her standard sparring stance.

Bouncing on their feet, the two circled each other, closing much of the gap between them as they did so. Once she was close enough, Kate threw a punch to Castle's right shoulder. She was startled when Castle blocked the move. She gritted her teeth when the next punch that she threw missed the man entirely. Such a thing wasn't uncommon when she was sparring with a partner that knew was he was doing, but this was _Castle_, for crying out loud!

"Didn't think I had it in me, did you, detective?" Castle teased.

"Just focus, Castle," Kate snapped. "I don't want to have to really hurt you."

Castle merely smirked and got back into the basic sparring stance.

Not wanting to have the fight drag out, Kate tried one of her favorite moves. When it was successful, her knee would hit her opponent in the abdomen above the right hip. Then, while the other person was bent over, Kate would push him down to the mat. This time, however, the move wasn't successful. Kate's surprise changed to confusion as Castle successfully blocked her. Again!

"How-?" Kate wondered aloud.

"I studied mixed martial arts for one of my early books," Castle explained.

"And you just chose to tell me this now?" Kate didn't bother trying to hide the irritation from her voice.

Castle merely shrugged.

Kate was actually caught off-guard when Castle executed a move that had his hands on her shoulders. She forced herself to ignore the tingles his hands on her bare skin left as she spun out of his grasp. A quick move had Castle's hands firmly on her elbows. The temptation to give in, to lean back against Castle and lay her head on his shoulder washed over her. Thankfully, Castle pushed her away before she got the chance. For a brief moment, Kate stumbled but she easily regained her footing.

When she was back in her regular fighting stance, Castle tried a right kick. Kate easily pushed him down. As she leaned over him, her hand firmly on his chest, Kate realized she may have made another error. Not that the move wasn't effective. But now she didn't want to remove her hand. Instead, she desperately wanted to have her other hand join in and run her fingers over the couture of Castle's muscular chest.

"We can always just cuddle if you're getting tired, Kate," Castle said. Kate glared at him. She really didn't like having one of her teasing comments thrown back at her. Especially that one. She had said something similar to him when she had thought that he didn't know how to shoot a gun. Trust Castle to make such a comment while showing her that, yet again, she had underestimated him.

Kate was actually relieved when Castle used his legs to cause her to roll over him. She quickly leapt back to her feet.

During the next few minutes of fighting, Kate was careful to avoid any moves that would cause her to come into unnecessary physical contact with Castle. They both attempted basic punches, neither giving an inch. When Kate tried another kick, Castle bent out of reach.

Kate bit back a groan when Castle grabbed her wrist and flipped her onto the mat. When he held out a hand, offering to help her up, Kate ignored it. She didn't know how much more of his hands on her that she could take. Quickly she rolled and got back to her feet.

"Don't know how much longer I can keep this up," Castle finally admitted, much to Kate's relief. Truthfully, she felt the same way

After a few more punches that didn't make much of a difference for either of them, Kate threw a kick to Castle's right side. When the momentum caused Castle to tumble down to the mat, Kate was sure that the match was over. Until Castle kicked her feet out from under her, causing her to land flat on her back on the mat only a couple feet away from where Castle was still laying.

Both were breathing heavily by now. Kate was just glad that Castle had no idea that her state was caused as much by his proximity during the fighting as by the fight itself.

"Ready to admit defeat, Castle?" Kate asked after she had caught her breath.

"No way," Castle replied. Kate was surprised that after such a comment, Castle didn't immediately jump to his feet and resume the match.

Kate started to get up when she saw that he was doing the same. She had just gotten to her hands and knees when she felt his arms sneak around her waist. Kate tensed.

Kate wasn't sure if it was a good thing or not when they started to roll, each of them trying to get the upper hand. She found herself wishing that she had never suggested sparring when the rolling came to a sudden stop. Unbelievably, Castle was on top and Kate no longer had the energy to keep fighting. Worse than that, she had lost the desire to keep fighting.

It was when he lowered his head that she knew. Suddenly, it all made sense. This wasn't real. She was dreaming again. As Castle's lips claimed hers, Kate knew that it was only a matter of seconds before-

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><p>Gasping, Kate came to sudden wakefulness. Her heart pounding, her pulse racing, she jumped out of bed and started pacing. Kate wasn't really one for pacing, but she needed to get rid of the nervous energy somehow.<p>

She was actually glad when she heard her phone ring. She definitely needed something to occupy her mind other than her most recent dream. As Esposito filled her in on their newest case, Kate felt her anxiety ease. Finally, she was back in familiar territory. Even calling Castle felt nothing more than routine. As long as she kept her distance-although her dream reminded her to make sure she wasn't obvious about it-Kate knew she would be fine. She just needed to take things a day at a time and ride the situation out however long it lasted. The problem was, though, that she had no idea how long that was going to be. But she knew one thing. Under _no _circumstances was she sparring with Castle. Ever.

**I admit it; I can't remember if Kate regularly paces when she's stressed, but personally, I don't remember a scene where she has done that. Now I'm going to pop over to Facebook to check out the spoilers! Oh, before I go-please R&R. I'm so excited I almost forgot that part!**


	3. Chapter 3

**This was going to be the last chapter but so many of you asked for more dreams that I decided to see what I could come up with. There will be only one chapter after this, but I am toying with the idea of having another story called "Dreaming of Castle" where I'll put some of Kate's dreams that occurred in the first twenty nights before this story took place.**

**Disclaimer: As much as I sometimes wish I did, I do not own these wonderful characters. Although if I did, I would only be able to get them together once. So there is a positive side to being a fan fiction writer rather than a TV writer...**

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><p>"NYPD, open up!"<p>

Kate had heard those words many times over the years. Much of the time, she had been the one to utter them. This was the first time, however, she had ever heard those words shouted right outside her apartment.

Shock caused her to remain frozen as she heard a foot slam into her apartment door and watch as the door flew open. The sight of detectives Ryan and Esposito still took her by surprise, even though she had recognized Esposito's booming voice shouting the familiar phrase.

"Dude, dude, drop the gun!" Ryan's command alerted Kate to the fact that the weapon was even in her hands.

"Drop the gun now!" Esposito's command came right on top of Ryan's.

There was something eerily familiar but also completely off about all of this. It took a moment for the memory to surface. Last fall, after not seeing or hearing from Castle for months, the three detectives had found him at a crime scene. Seeing the writer with a gun in his hand and standing over a dead body had made Kate want to throw up and weep at the same time. Relief had flooded her when Montgomery had told her a short time later that the bullets in the gun Castle had been holding didn't match those of the murder weapon.

As the memory flittered across her mind Kate looked down, half expecting to see a dead body there.

Where _was _Castle, anyway? Kate couldn't imagine her partner sitting this one out. Whether the man would be accusing her or defending her, she wasn't entirely sure about at the moment. But he would definitely be involved in this somehow.

"Beckett, drop the gun!" Ryan shouted.

Kate slowly looked up and locked gazes with the fellow detective, the gun dropping from her suddenly shaking hands.

"Turn around," Esposito ordered, not a hint of the usual respect he held for her in his voice. Kate could do nothing more than stare at him in bewilderment as he walked towards her, gun still drawn. "Beckett, turn around," Esposito repeated the command once he had reached her side, his voice a bit quieter but his tone still firm.

Shaking her head in denial at the whole situation, Kate forced herself to turn her back to Esposito. She winced at the feel of steel around her wrists, the sound of the cuffs locking in place.

"Katherine Beckett, you are under arrest," Esposito told her.

"For what?" Kate demanded to know.

"Withholding evidence and obstruction of justice," Esposito said.

That told Kate absolutely nothing. "What evidence?"

"You can go over all of that at the station," Esposito said. "Now let's move."

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><p>The short ride to the station was made in complete silence. Not even in the wildest days of her adolescence had Kate been forced to sit in the back of a squad car. It felt like she'd dropped into some odd alternative universe. Kate would have thought she was dreaming, except for the fact that Castle was nowhere around. She couldn't imagine her subconscious being so kind as to suddenly stop her dreams of the man after tormenting her with them night after night, week after week.<p>

Time seemed to go in slow motion as the three got out of the car and made their way to the station. Kate expected horrified glances to follow her as fellow officers saw her being led like a common criminal, but no one even glanced their way. She braced herself as she stepped into the elevator, wondering who would meet them and what reactions there would be. Was Castle at this very moment standing by the elevators on the floor of the homicide division, anxiously waiting? Or had Esposito told Lanie what was going on?

All that greeted them was Captain Montgomery's disappointed countenance. "Room one is free," was all he said before walking back to his office, shutting the door behind him.

Unease and confusion built in Kate as she was herded towards the familiar room. She had to have been framed for something; it was the only explanation that made any sense. But Ryan, Esposito and even the Captain seemed to think she was guilty. Did that mean that Castle was her only hope to get out of this? Or did he believe in her guilt, too?

Kate thought about requesting her one phone call, but she wanted to know more about the situation so she'd have a better idea of who would best be able to help.

Esposito opened the door to the interrogation room and lightly pushed Kate inside. Instead of being deserted, as Kate had been expecting, there was someone already standing in the room, leaning against the wall.

"Castle?" Kate's tone matched what it had been when she'd seen him at that crime seen all those months ago. Little wonder, since her shock was as great seeing Castle already in the interrogation room as it had been back then.

"She's all yours, Castle," Esposito said with a grin, quickly backing out of the room, shutting and locking the door behind him.

"Wait, what?" Kate whirled around, but the other detective was already gone.

"Hello, Kate," Castle greeted her calmly.

Kate turned back to him, her eyes narrowed in her familiar glare. "Castle, what is going on?"

"Esposito already told you," Castle said as if the answer should be obvious to the confused woman.

"All he said was that I was being accused of withholding evidence," Kate bit out between clenched teeth.

"Well, that was sure a boring way to tell you," Castle said with a sigh. "I never should have sent a cop to do a writer's job."

"_You_ sent Esposito?"

Castle nodded. "And Ryan," he said.

Okay, that confirmed it. Kate had somehow fallen into some weird alternative universe. She knew it was a very Castle-like theory, but nothing else made sense.

Unless she was dreaming...

And since Castle was now in the room with her that meant...

She was in _big _trouble.

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><p>Kate decided a good defense was a good offense. It must be from all of those years watching various sports with her dad, but it had often worked for her as a cop, too.<p>

"So what is this 'evidence' I'm supposedly hiding, Castle?" she asked.

"You already know the answer to that, Kate," Castle said, starting to make his way towards her.

"No, Castle," Kate said, her tone cool, "I don't. Why don't you explain it to me?"

"Fine," Castle said, and did what he did best-spun a story. "She's quiet, composed, as she walks up to the body. Her eyes sweep the scene, taking in all the little details that the average person would miss. Already her mind is starting to form a theory about how the body ended up in its mangled condition. She crouches down next to the victim when it happens. He crouches down next to her, breaking her concentration for the briefest moment. She's irritated and glares at him. She knows it's an overreaction, but she has to keep what's churning inside hidden, especially from him. She tells herself to shrug it off, to look away and she does. But not before her gaze drops to his lips. She shakes her head and looks away, hoping he didn't notice her slip.

"But he did notice. He noticed the blush heating her cheeks, the panic in her eyes. And he starts to wonder. Because it's not the first time she's looked at him like that. It wasn't unusual for him to catch her looking at him and she caught him looking at her even more often. But the panic, that was new. It worries him. There is no reason she should feel panic around him. He starts to wonder if something happened, if someone had hurt her. But when she addresses her male co-workers with her usual calm, expectant gaze, he discards that idea.

"He starts thinking back to those other times when she had that panicked look in her eyes. The series of events piece together in his mind and a picture that he never expected starts to emerge. But he has to make sure. One wrong move could destroy everything. He knows better than to think that she'll come to him. So he plans. He waits."

Kate couldn't help it; his story was drawing her in, the way his stories always did.

"Do you understand now?" he asked.

Kate couldn't respond. The combination of listening to one of Castle's stories and realizing his story was referring to her actions at the crime scene earlier that day were too much. The ability for her to form a coherent thought in her brain was, for the moment, gone.

"She's you, Kate!" Castle burst out, jarring Kate out of her story-induced fog. She was startled to see that Castle was right in front of her. His hands came down on her shoulders and Kate involuntarily tensed.

"There, that right there," Castle said, his tone calm but determined. "What is going on, Kate?"

The question puzzled her. If she was dreaming, wouldn't he already know? In every other dream he sure had.

"When are you going to stop hiding, Kate?" he further surprised her by asking. Castle hardly ever challenged her directly like this.

"I-" Kate tried but nothing more would come out.

"I was hoping it wouldn't come to this, that you would tell me on your own," Castle said regretfully. "But now you leave me no choice."

"What?" Kate's eyes widened at that.

"You're in an interrogation room, Kate," Castle told her, as if she wasn't already fully aware of that. "It's time for the interrogation."

Kate had never been scared of Castle before. She was now. Not because she thought he would physically harm her; she knew it wasn't his nature be violent, unless it was to protect someone else. But she had no clue about how Castle planned to 'interrogate' her, and that was swiftly causing fear to well within her. The man had no idea the damage he could do if he chose the type of interrogation that had just formed in her mind.

The moment his lips brushed her cheek, she knew. Castle's mind had gone right to where hers had.

"What are you thinking, Kate?" Castle whispered as his lips moved from her cheek down to her jaw. He smiled as Kate gave in to the temptation to tilt her neck, silently asking him to keep going. She drew in a shaky breath as his lips trailed down her neck.

_Don't stop. Don't ever stop._

"I wasn't planning to," Castle said with a playful smirk.

Horrified, Kate jerked out of his hold. Had she really said it out loud?

The teasing twinkle in Castle's blue eyes, the smug smile on his lips, confirmed to Kate that she must have.

"I need to get out of here," she whispered, and tried to make her way to the door.

Except she couldn't move.

Not because she didn't want to leave, which a huge part of her didn't. And not because Castle was restraining her; he wasn't.

She literally, physically couldn't move. It was like her feet were glued to the floor.

"Castle, what is going on?"

"Jedi mind trick," Castle said, lifting a hand to her cheek, making Kate have to fight the urge to lean into his touch. "I told you I could do it."

"Castle, this is not a Jedi mind trick," Kate snapped.

"How would you explain it then, Detective?"

"I'm dreaming again." Kate was sure of that now.

"Again?" Castle leaned towards her until his lips were a mere inch away from hers. "And what happens in these dreams?"

Kate tried not to say it, but it was like some outside force had taken control of her brain. "Kissing."

"Lots of kissing?" Castle wanted to know.

_Don't do it, Kate!_

Kate's silent command to herself went ignored when she reluctantly nodded.

"Then there's an easy way to find out, isn't there?" Castle said and closed the distance between them...

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><p>Kate shot out of bed before she even woke up. Once she was alert to the fact that it had been a dream, that she was safe in her apartment, she was standing at least 10 feet away from where she'd been sleeping less than a second ago.<p>

That did it. She was calling in tomorrow and taking some personal days, sick days, whatever, she didn't care. She just knew she had to stay away from Castle until this dreaming of him stopped. That story he had told her in her dream solidified her decision.

Because what his story had described had really happened.

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><p><strong>I had so much fun writing this one. This chapter didn't focus quite as much on Kate's attraction to Castle, but trust me, the last chapter will more than make up for it...And don't worry, the story rating won't change, since I don't write M-rated stories.<strong>

** Additional Disclaimer: I also don't own Star Wars; that belongs to George Lucas. But wouldn't it be cool to own a robot like C-3PO?**

**As always, please R&R.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Wow, it took me much longer than I expected to get this chapter done. I knew what I wanted the basic premise of this chapter to be, but I spent all week tossing around different ideas of how to bring it about. And then I kept getting hit with minor writer's block. Thankfully my co-editor is also a great person to bounce ideas off of. She's probably heard "How would Castle react to..." and "What would Kate do if..." at least ten times today. Thankfully her insights would give me just what I needed to get back to work. I think this is actually the longest chapter I've ever written. Hopefully that will somewhat make up for the longer wait.**

**Oh, and Topsy, I wanted to assure you that "The Beckett Clones" is the next story I'll be getting back to. My muse just wouldn't leave me alone until I finished this story first.**

**Disclaimer: Boy, the places I could take Caskett if I DID own Castle...Some people think about what they would do if they won the lottery (Oh, wait, I've done that, too) while others think about where they would take the show if they owned Castle. Unfortunately, my chances of winning the lottery are greater than my chances of ever owning Castle. But that's what fan fiction is for, right? :)**

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><p>"Castle?"<p>

Kate couldn't believe it. She had taken the day off to get some distance from the man who was, at that very moment, standing on her doorstep. Of course she hadn't _told _Castle that was why she was taking the day off when she had called to let him know she wouldn't be at the precinct. She had merely told him she was taking a personal day and left it at that.

Kate knew she probably should have been expecting the author's arrival. After all, Castle's inquisitive mind wouldn't be able to resist trying to learn the entire story about why his muse would, on the spur of the moment, take a day off.

Well, it didn't matter. This time, he was just going to have to keep wondering. Kate had vast experience in keeping private things private, and the issue of her dreams and the lack of sleep they were causing was something she was determined Castle would never know.

Kate took a closer look at Castle and her eyes widened. When she had first opened the door, her brain had been too clouded from the brief 'nap' the writer's knock had interrupted to notice much. The sight before her, however, had startled her into full wakefulness.

Kate had seen Castle in full laser tag gear. She had seen him wearing a 'space cowboy' costume. She had seen him dressed casually and in a tux. Never, in the three years that she had known the man, had she ever seen him in a fully decked out police officer's uniform.

Until now.

Kate had to curl her fingers into tight fists to keep from reaching out to feel the broad shoulders the uniform emphasized. In all of her dreams and fantasies she'd ever had about Castle, the idea of him dressed as a cop had never occurred to her. Maybe because she was so aware that he wasn't a cop. He may forget that on occasion, but she never did.

A part of Kate was glad her mind had never gone in that direction. Fighting her attraction to the man was difficult enough without that. The old cliché of a woman not being able to resist a man in uniform had only ever made Kate roll her eyes in disgust. She now realized that there was a huge difference between trying to resist some hypothetical man and trying to resist Castle.

Kate was confused, though. It was no mere Halloween costume version Castle was wearing. Kate had spent far too much time around the real thing not to notice the difference. The man was wearing a genuine officer's uniform.

"Castle, why...?"

"I'm a cop, of course," Castle explained with a grin. "See," he held out a shiny object that was all too familiar to Kate, "I have a real badge and everything."

Kate didn't know what to say to that. The badge that he held out was as authentic as the rest of his outfit. And the badge was clearly that of an NYPD detective.

But there was no way Castle could be a cop, certainly not a detective. He would need to attend the academy, go through a series of physical and psychological evaluations and spend a minimum of two years as a patrol officer before having even a chance of being promoted to detective. He couldn't possibly have had the time to do all of that on top of writing his books and shadowing her for the last few years.

"Castle, you are _not _a cop," Kate said in an exasperated tone.

"Of course I am," Castle insisted. "What else would I be wearing this?"

A wave of tiredness hit her and a dull headache started to throb behind her eyes. Kate didn't know what was going on and she was just too exhausted to try to figure things out. All she wanted to do was sleep.

Sleep...

That would explain it! She was dreaming again. It was the only thing that made the least bit of sense.

The series of dreams she'd had in the last twenty some nights flashed through her mind in rapid succession. In each and every one she had fought her attraction to Castle, at least initially.

Well, no more.

This time Kate was going after what she wanted.

Kate's lips curved up in a sensual smile as she slowly took a closer look at Castle's appearance, from his boot-clad feet to his brown hair and back again. She knew the expectancy she felt was shining from her eyes.

"Beckett?" Castle's tone was uncertain as his gaze turned wary.

Kate's smile just grew wider. She didn't know why her 'dream Castle" had all of a sudden developed a careful attitude in his actions towards her, but she could work with it. This was much closer to the real Castle, anyway.

Kate closed the distance until there was barely an inch between them. She bit her lip, partly to drive Castle crazy and partly because she couldn't help herself, as she let her fingers lightly touch his shoulders.

She frowned when she noticed that her hands were shaking. The nervousness that suddenly clenched her stomach made her frown deepen.

This was wrong. She shouldn't be nervous. It was only a dream, for crying out loud! One that would hopefully take the edge off so that she would be able to keep from throwing herself at the man in truth.

"Beckett, are you-"

Kate cut off whatever he was going to say by pressing her lips to his. The desire to deepen the kiss, to take as much as she could before she woke up slammed into her. She fought it back, forcing herself to keep the contact brief. She knew that as soon as she started kissing him with all of the passion she kept under such rigid control it would be mere seconds before she woke. And she wanted this dream to last as long as possible.

"No talking, Castle," she murmured, still so close to the man that her lips brushed his as she formed the words. The tingles that danced across her lips at the contact caused her control to slip the slightest bit. "I don't know how much time I have left and I don't want to waste a second," she whispered, leaning her head a fraction closer to his so that each word resulted in a light kiss.

"Until what?" Castle breathed.

Kate hadn't been expecting him to question her, which meant that she hadn't expected his lips to brush against hers. She was unable to suppress the shiver that raced through her. She forced herself to pull back. Any more contact like that and the little self-control she had left would be obliterated.

"Until I wake up," Kate said before moving her lips to his neck. She knew that she wouldn't be able to keep from kissing him now, but hopefully if she kept her lips off of his the dream would last as long as her restraint did.

Kate had always liked a man's lips on her neck-especially Castle's, she realized after her first dream of him. Castle could do more with a simple kiss on her neck than any other man could doing anything else. What she hadn't expected was how much pleasure she would get from returning the favor. Feeling his throat work beneath her lips as he gulped, the motion pressing the skin more firmly against her lips, was a heady sensation. She lightly licked the skin where his neck met his shoulder and giggled at his responding groan.

While her mouth was busy on his neck, her hands were busy working on his uniform. As she slid the top part of the uniform off of his shoulders, she followed the path with her lips down his arm. She had never thought of a man's arm as stimulating until now. Wanting to explore the new sensation, once she'd reached his wrist she trailed kisses back up to his shoulder.

"Beckett," Castle choked out.

"Kate, in my dreams you call me Kate," Kate reminded him, stepping back to let her gaze wander over Castle's naked chest. After a brief moment she couldn't stay content with just looking. She moved her hands from his arms to his chest, placing a kiss in the area between them.

"Kate," Castle ground out.

Kate could tell Castle was about to snap. Based on all of her other dreams, she knew he was mere seconds away from kissing her the way she desperately wanted to kiss him.

"Not yet, Castle," she pleaded softly, running her hands over his chest. "I don't want to wake up yet."

Wondering if maybe she should cool things down a little, Kate wrapped her arms around his waist and rested her head against his chest. That turned out to be only a minimal amount of help as she now had her cheek resting against his bare chest. When Castle wrapped his arms around her and dropped a kiss on the top of her head, Kate let out a contented sigh. Maybe she could just stay like this for a while.

Far too few moments passed before Castle whispered her name. Kate sighed and lifted her head. Seeing the longing pouring from his blue eyes, Kate admitted defeat and touched her lips to his. Unlike the other dream kisses, this one didn't start out soft and sweet. Kate knew she was too far gone for that and she didn't even try. She merely took what she wanted, knowing he wanted it, too.

She tried to brace herself, knowing that she was going to wake up any second. The mere thought made tears well in her eyes and she tightened her hold on him and deepened the kiss even more.

In all of her dreams, she had never kissed him like this before. She'd never had the chance; she'd always woken up before she could.

So why wasn't she waking up now?

Unease tried to well within her, but Kate forced it back. She didn't care why she wasn't waking up. Maybe her subconscious was finally taking pity on her and letting her get far enough with 'dream Castle' that she wouldn't make a fool of herself with the real thing.

Kate was stunned when Castle tore his lips from hers and forced some distance between them. Her 'dream Castle' _never_ did that. _Real_ Castle wouldn't even do that.

"Castle, why...?"

She could feel tension in his shoulders, where her hands had ended up when he'd pushed her away so abruptly. His labored breathing that matched her own was proof enough to Kate that he hadn't wanted to stop.

So why had he?

"You're not dreaming, Kate," Castle answered softly, barely above a whisper.

The words didn't make sense. Of course she was dreaming. She had been sleeping and Castle showed up in a cop uniform, a _genuine_ cop uniform. He had even claimed to _be_ a cop. That couldn't be real. It wasn't possible.

As often happened with Castle, his mind was running along the same lines as hers. "I know a guy," he said. "He's a retired detective. When I mentioned that I was thinking about dressing up as a cop for Halloween, he said I could borrow his uniform."

The explanation was actually somewhat plausible, at least for Castle. So, Kate realized, she probably _was_ awake.

That meant she had just made a complete and total fool of herself. With Rick Castle, no less.

But there was one problem.

"Castle, no cop would do that," Kate said. Her concern for the man had, at least temporarily, overshadowed the mortification she felt over what she had done. "You could get in a lot of trouble impersonating an officer. There's a _reason_ the Halloween costumes look different from real uniforms."

"That's why I'm only wearing it in your building and at my Halloween party," Castle told her. "Your super let me change in his apartment after I promised him an invitation to the Halloween party. He's a fan."

Kate sighed. Of course her apartment's superintendent would be a fan. Castle had fans everywhere, especially in New York.

"Then you can go right back down to his apartment and change back into your regular clothes," Kate said, forcing herself to not react to his crestfallen expression.

"But what do you think?" Castle pressed. "Wouldn't it make a great costume for the party?"

Kate really wished that Castle hadn't picked _this_ Halloween to forego his rule of keeping his costume a surprise. If he'd come to her apartment dressed in his regular clothes, she would have figured out much sooner that she hadn't been in the middle of another dream. She may not have even thought she was dreaming at all.

But that was _not_ something she wanted to be thinking about at this particular moment, especially with Castle still in the room.

"Why are you even thinking about Halloween costumes right now?" she asked. "It's barely the middle of August."

"I like to get an early start, before all of the good costumes are gone," Castle explained.

Somehow, that didn't surprise Kate in the least.

"I think you should keep looking," Kate told him. The last thing she needed was a reminder of her actions, and she'd never be able to look at Castle in an officer's uniform without the way she'd thrown herself at the man at the forefront of her mind. "That costume doesn't suit you at all," she lied.

Castle's pout at her comment almost made Kate feel bad for the fib. Almost. She would do whatever she had to do to keep the man from mentioning what had been happening between them mere minutes ago

When Castle's eyes lit up a moment later and a satisfied smirk graced his lips, Kate realized that she wouldn't be getting off so easily.

"I don't know, Detective," he said. "I think this will be the perfect costume. You only threw yourself at me because you thought you were dreaming, but I bet I'll have women throwing themselves at me all night long."  
>"They'd better not," Kate muttered before she could stop herself.<p>

Castle's eyes widened at that, and then narrowed as he gazed at her intently. "You sound jealous," he said.

"Jealous?" Kate frowned at the way her voice squeaked. "Me?"

Suddenly all teasing was gone from Castle's expression. "Yes, you, Kate."

Kate. He'd called her Kate. That couldn't be good.

Castle reached out and lightly brushed her cheek with the back of his fingers. More tender than passionate, the touch sent a physical jolt through her and an emotional one straight to her heart. She closed her eyes, trying to muster up enough willpower to back away. Instead, when Castle moved his hand to cup her cheek fully, Kate couldn't keep from leaning into his touch.

Realizing a moment later what she'd done, Kate opened her eyes and grabbed his wrist, fully intending to force Castle to remove his hand. Instead, she curled her fingers around it and lifted her gaze to his.

"_Are_ you jealous, Kate?" Castle asked quietly.

"Jealous of hypothetical women throwing themselves at you?" Kate tried to laugh, but the attempt sounded false, even to her own ears.

Castle didn't reply. He merely looked at her.

Waiting.

Kate knew she was at a crossroads. She could keep trying to deny it and she knew Castle would let her. Or she could take the risk and admit what she was suddenly sure he had already figured out for himself.

If only she hadn't had all of those dreams...

Kate shook her head. No, she and Castle would have come to this point eventually. Not this soon and certainly not in this way, but it would have happened. The sense of inevitability had been with Kate since Castle had returned to the precinct from his summer in the Hamptons.

The detective opened her mouth but no words would come out. Castle's expression was resigned and Kate realized that he must have misinterpreted why she had shaken her head, thinking she was going to deny what she felt.

That made the decision for her. Things had dragged on long enough.

For both of them.

Kate moved her hand from his wrist and put both hands around his neck, running her fingers through his hair. A hopeful gleam blazed in Castle's eyes but he remained still. Kate appreciated his restraint. She needed to take this step without any prompting from Castle. She needed it to be her conscious decision to let go of her fears and embrace a life with the man she loved.

When her lips finally touched his, they both let out a sigh of relief. Kate kept the kiss light, savoring the moment. After a minute she pulled back.

"I won't be jealous of women throwing themselves at you," she said softly. "Because none of them will ever get the chance."

The way Castle beamed at her caused Kate to respond with a matching grin.

"Even if they did, it wouldn't matter," Castle assured her. "You're the only one I want. The only one I'll ever want."

Something in those words, in the way they were able to finally lay her fears to rest, caused all of her pent up longing for Castle to come pouring out. For the second time in less than an hour Kate launched herself at him. Castle's delighted chuckle didn't embarrass Kate; she recognized it for the expression of joy and relief that it was. There was no softness or hesitancy when she kissed him this time. Kate let her passion have free reign. She took what she wanted, not because she was worried about a lack of time to explore everything she could have with Castle, but because she could no longer hold herself back. Kate felt when Castle's own control snapped in the way he tightened his hold on her and kissed her back with a passion that matched her own.

It was almost too much, the powerful emotions mixed with the all-consuming passion that she felt in Castle's arms. When Kate felt herself start to get lightheaded she pulled back, her heart racing and her breaths coming in shallow gasps. Kate almost laughed at the stunned look on Castle's face as he drew in some shallow breaths of his own.

Castle closed his eyes tight until his breathing calmed. When he opened them the burning desire was tempered by the familiar mischievous twinkle. He gently kissed her on the forehead and his lips curved in a playful smirk.

"So, been dreaming of me, have you, Detective?" he teased.

Castle's teasing triggered Kate's own. She leaned forward until her breath tickled his ear. "Every night, Castle," she told him. "More than twenty nights of them. There was this one on the beach. You would have really enjoyed it, Castle. I was wearing my red bikini in that one. Or maybe you would have liked the one where we wrestled on the sparring mat more..."

Kate pulled back just in time to see Castle's jaw go slack as his eyes took on the glazed look they always did when Kate's teasing robbed him of the ability to think.

"You're such an easy mark, Castle," she said with a laugh.

Her words snapped Castle out of his stupor. The determined look in his eyes made her slightly nervous. What was he up to?

"I think you'll discover that we're evenly matched, Detective," he said. Without further warning, he pulled her tight against him and swallowed any retort she may have made with his lips. By the time Kate was able to get over her shock, Castle had moved his attention from her lips to her neck, raining kisses down her throat. She couldn't suppress a moan when his lips reached her pulse point and his satisfied chuckle made her shiver.

When Castle finally pulled away, Kate finally understood what the man must be feeling every time he started at her with that glazed look in his eyes: brain scrambled to the point where coherent though was impossible, lightheaded and an overwhelming pull to the one that caused it all. Exactly what she was feeling at that very moment.

"Definitely evenly matched," she agreed dazedly.

"With great power comes great responsibility," Castle suddenly joked, startling Kate and causing her to burst into laughter.

"Something we both need to remember," Kate said once she was able to contain her mirth, "right, Castle?"

Castle nodded. The look in his eyes turned serious. "You know I love you, don't you, Kate?"

Hearing those words from his lips felt like a verbal hug to her heart. "I had wondered," she admitted, "and hoped. But known for sure? Not until now."

Hearing him say the words first made it easier, but Kate was still surprised at the way her stomach tightened with nervousness as she told him, "I love you, Castle." She couldn't stop what followed. She didn't even want to. "Always."

"Always," he agreed solemnly. Then his eyes regained that familiar gleam. "Now, about those dreams..."

**Please R&R. As always, I'm very curious about what you guys think. And now that I've finished this, I will respond to the reviews for earlier chapters and other stories. I just didn't want this story to take even LONGER to finish than it already has.**


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